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Labor renews calls for national integrity commission over Sydney airport offsets

Labor renews calls for national integrity commission over Sydney airport offsets Lisa Cox © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Labor has strengthened its call for a national integrity commission, saying it is needed to investigate the Morrison government’s purchase of more than $30m in environmental offsets related to the development of the western Sydney airport. The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, made the call after the New South Wales transport department referred its purchases of $50.6m in offsets from the same western Sydney properties to the state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. “A national anti-corruption commission would be able to uncover the truth about these deals and hold ministers accountable in the same way that NSW has been able to quickly refer questions about its land deal to its anti-corruption commission,” Dreyfus said on Friday.

'Deeply concerning': government consultant made millions from NSW environmental offsets | Environment

Anthony Whealy, the director of the Centre for Public Integrity and a former NSW supreme court judge, said: “The sheer magnitude of the profits realised by private individuals and companies from a scheme essentially designed to protect and restore the environment raises serious concerns.” The transactions warranted “a thorough investigation by the NSW auditor general”, he said. Offsets are used to compensate for the environmental destruction caused by major development by protecting and restoring endangered habitat elsewhere. In NSW, developers can do this by purchasing offset credits from properties that landholders have committed to conserving permanently under an agreement with the state government.

'Enormous sum of money': $40m windfall from NSW environmental offsets sparks calls for inquiry